Five-star luxury hotel's grand opening 'an absolute disgrace'

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These are the scenes that greeted holidaymakers arriving at a new five star, luxury hotel in the Halkidiki region of Greece.

The Blue Lagoon Princess Hotel, from tour operator Thomson’s hand-picked Platinum range, opened its doors on May 4 to the outrage of some guests who branded it “an absolute disgrace”.

The catalogue of complaints levelled at the tour operator included allegations that the grounds looked a building site complete with a JCB digger, that there were wires dangling from ceilings, rooms without doors and dust and dirt on the hotel floors.

The hotel’s reputation is suffering on Trip Advisor, where its rating is down to two and a half stars. One reviewer wrote: “Along with many others, our dream holiday is in tatters… Thomsons (sic) sold me a Rolex and gave me a Timex.”

Holidaymakers, who included a couple on their honeymoon, were given alternative accommodation at other hotels in the area.

Work was still going on when the first guests arrived (Photo: Jess Woodhouse)

News of the state of the hotel has led to a number of concerned queries as to whether the hotel is ready yet.

A spokesperson for Thomson assured holidaymakers the hotel is “complete”.

The hotel as it should be (Photo: Thomson)

Reviews of the hotel since its completion have been positive and hailed an “amazing turnaround”.

A spokesperson for the tour operator said: "Thomson would like to apologise to the small number of our customers who were the first to arrive at the Blue Lagoon Princess in Halkidiki on May 4 and were impacted by the completion of final work on the hotel.

"As soon as we were made aware of the situation, our resort team worked closely with the hotel to arrange suitable alternative accommodation for affected customers. We also offered a gesture of goodwill for the inconvenience in line with our terms and conditions, which were accepted by customers at the time of booking.

"We would like to reassure customers that whilst it is rare to delay the opening of a hotel, we continually monitor all the hotels in our programme to ensure they meet our high standards and guests currently on holiday at the Blue Lagoon Princess are enjoying their stay."